When you think of longevity in animals, chances are that the Greenland shark will immediately come up. After all, researchers estimate that the enigmatic animal can live for at least 250 years. It turns out, however, that bats also hold their own when it comes to lifespan, with some species living up to 25 years—equivalent to 180 human years—and they tend to do it cancer-free.

Researchers from the University of Rochester (UR) have investigated anti-cancer “superpowers,” as described in a UR statement, in four bat species: the little brown bat, the big brown bat, the cave nectar bat, and the Jamaican fruit bat. The results of their investigation could have important implications for treating cancer in humans.

“Longer lifespans with more cell divisions, and longer exposure to exo- [external] and endogenous [internal] stressors increase cancer incidence,” the researchers wrote in a study published last month in the journal Nature Communications. “However, despite their exceptional lifespans, few to no tumors have been reported in long-lived wild and captive populations of bats.”

Led by biologists Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov from the UR Department of Biology and Wilmot Cancer Institute, the team identified a number of biological defenses that help bats avoid the disease. For example, bats have a tumor-suppressor gene, called p53. Specifically, little brown bats carry two copies of the gene, and have high p53 activity, which can get rid of cancer cells during apoptosis, a biological process that eliminates unwanted cells.

“We hypothesize that some bat species have evolved enhanced p53 activity as an additional anti-cancer strategy, similar to elephants,” the researchers explained. Too much p53, though, runs the risk of killing too many cells. Clearly, bats are able to find the right apoptosis balance. Humans also have p53, but mutations in the gene—which disrupt its anti-cancer properties—exist in around 50% of human cancers.

The researchers also analyzed the enzyme telomerase. In bats, the telomerase expression allows bat cells to multiply endlessly. That means they don’t undergo replicative senescence: a feature that restricts cell proliferation to a certain number of divisions. Since, according to the study, senescence “promotes age-related inflammation contributing to the aging process,” bats’ lack thereof would seem to promote longevity. And while indefinite cell proliferation might sound like the perfect cancer hotbed, bats’ high p53 activity can kill off any cancer cells.

Furthermore, “bats have unique immune systems which allows them to survive a wide range of deadly viruses, and many unique immune adaptations have been described in bats,” the researchers wrote. “Most knowledge of the bat immune systems comes from studies of bat tolerance to viral infections deadly to humans. However, these or similar immune adaptations may also recognize and eliminate tumors,” as well as “temper inflammation, which may have an anticancer effect.”

Cells have to go through several steps, or “oncogenic hits,” to become harmful cancerous cells. Surprisingly, the researchers also found that it only takes two hits for normal bat cells to become malignant, meaning bats aren’t naturally resistant to cancer—they just have “robust tumor-suppressor mechanisms,” as described in the statement.

The team’s findings carry important implications for treating cancer. Specifically, the study confirms that increased p53 activity—which is already targeted by some anti-cancer drugs—can eliminate or slow cancer growth. More broadly, their research is yet another example of scientists turning to nature for solutions to human challenges on all scales. Though the study focuses on bats, the ultimate aim is, always, finding a cure for cancer in humans.